The Sociology Study On The Temple Fair In Rural Areas

As an important cultural activity to express faith in traditional rural communities, temple fair combines economical, cultural and social significance all together and thus serves as a crucial part for the research of Chinese folk life. But nowadays temple fair has been greatly influenced as a result of tremendous changes took place in rural communities. Thus research on the development and functions of temple fair among rural citizens is conducive to comprehend rural society’s traditional culture and its development trend.Based on empirical research method, this thesis divides temple fair activities into three parts--Thanking Gods, entertainment and fairs. Through questionnaires in sampling survey from several rural citizens in Hubei Province, it tries to analyze people’s cognitive and behavior situation towards the above-mentioned activities. What’s more, it discusses about the current development condition of these activities and functions of temple fair in terms of individual differences in gender, age, educational background, economical situation and health condition.The research found that temple fair activities are characterized by its secularization and are greatly influenced by people’s lifestyle. Actually, knowledge about ceremonies during temple fair and their symbolic meanings are quiet vague. It is personal or family longing for interest that motivate people to participate in temple fairs rather than a true faith towards gods. In addition, the individual differences among rural citizens are obvious in terms of their cognitively and participation frequency, which on the other hand reflecting the discrepancies of relations between rural citizens and traditional agriculture or social customs. Lifestyle in rural communities also exerts influences on people’s participation. When it comes to the evaluation towards temple fair, positive influences are prevailing while the practical functions are blurring. Entertainment and fairs are said to be beneficiary in promoting business in spite of people’s unclear estimation about the future development trend of these temple fair activities.